| Man Raze UK | Man Raze The Spitz - Show Page 1 |
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TUE 27th Sep 2005: The Spitz, Old Spitalfields Market, London, ENGLAND.
[Pic by Deflepparduk.com]
[SETLIST] + with song keys
01 - Connected To You - B,
02 - You're So Wrong - A
03 - Every Second Of Everyday - A,
04 - Low - D,
05 - Fire - D,
06 - Runnin' Me Up - B,
07 - Skin Crawl - E,
08 - Halo - E,
09 - It's Entertainment - F,
10 - Cold Metal - A (unplayed encore track).
[Show Notes] - Soundcheck: 6:30 (ish), Doors: 8pm. Showtime: 10:10-10-45 (ish)pm. Cap: 250. Tickets: £8. An intimate debut show for the band & Launch Party for the first single 'Skin Crawl'. Phil's first show as a lead vocalist. Venue is inside the Spitz Gallery which also houses a photojournalism gallery, two bars and a bistro and is next to the market. All located in East London not too far from where Phil was born in Hackney. In fact probably all of Phil's debut shows with each band have been in London. Guests attending included: photographers Ross Halfin & Hayley Madden and Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols bassist).
One of the setlists on stage had a cover of Iggy Pop's "Cold Metal" listed as a possible encore, which they of course did not play. The song is from the 1988 album 'Instinct' which featured Glen Matlock on bass and Steve Jones on guitar. (2007) You can now download 'Fire' from this show via the band's official website. Simon Laffy did a DJ Set before the show which included Runnin' Me Up (version with vocals), Connected To You, Halo, Skin Crawl (all studio versions).
Links - MR UK 4 Show Pic Galleries | External Link -
Mysteria's: 38 Fan Pics
Def Leppard UK Review ::
Surrealist Diamond Geezers ::
This was my third time seeing any major act play in such a small venue in London. Ricky Warwick at The Borderline (275), class: and Alanis Morissette at Bush Hall (200), yum! - naturally this wouldn't compare to the Alanis gig, long flowing hair, amazing voice, tight leather pants.... (oops sorry) - It was really exciting to be witnessing not only Man-Raze's first ever live show but also the fact it was in such a small and intimate setting. There's something about seeing band's playing right up close that beats any arena show (so you 'Yanks' can keep Lep all you want!...).
During the summer I had thought the band would end up playing their first show in the USA and we'd have to wait to see them so it was a nice surprise to see that they scheduled their debut show right here where it all began for them in London's East End - all the band probably having been born within a few miles of here. I have now seen at least one member of Lep live each year since 2002, ('rumour' has it the band will be here again in 2006), and like last year in Sheffield this turned out to be very special.
After hearing all 3 of the new 'maxi-single' songs on the radio on Saturday I was even more excited about seeing the guys finally play live. They'd been kind enough to send a small video clip of rehearsals back in March of this year so I did kind of get to see them then which was ultra cool. OK it was only a few seconds long but still! (if you look closer at this section you'll see pics from that...). Not to mention taking the time to answer my stupid questions! But now to see them LIVE: In The Spitz-In Your Face was going to be awesome - so before I keel over I'll attempt to give a detailed review of the proceedings. Are you sitting comfortably?
"I only get to feel it when you push it to the limit, go!"
The night actually didn't start too well - I got into London WAY too early and had 3 hours to kill until doors at 7 (or so I thought!). decided to go in and see if anyone else was there yet and the place was empty. Asked the guy at the bar if anyone else had asked about the gig, "No, doors are at 7" - thankyou for that priceless info... So anyway...after making one drink last 45mins (45 looong mins) I got another and went up to the venue. Now this was a little bit weird "surreal" you might say, Before being told the door time was moved to 8pm and before I could show the guy my ticket (you had to print out the 'e-ticket' page from the ticket site to take) he stamped my hand. Later I didn't have to show the ticket just the stamp - so I shouldn't have bothered paying really, I could have been anyone off the street for all they knew... The cool part about this was as this was happening the band were doing a soundcheck. There were a couple of fans just inside the door who looked like they were watching so I decided to just go in, as you do. Got to watch for about 5 mins and take pics before the door guy said they'd been told to politely ask people to leave. Very casually though, I think they didn't want too many people coming in just yet. So that was a nice little bonus!.
Back to the bar - which was filling up and met a very nice young lady from Michigan called Amy. And she knew who I was! my first "fan" *blush*. It was a pleasure meeting you and hope you got home safely. She had travelled all the way from Michigan just for this show, now that's dedication.
So we had gone up at 8 and the venue was about one-third full for the first 30 mins. We noticed Simon Laffy was the DJ at the back. Played some great songs, The Police 'Walking On The Moon' and a few Man-Raze songs. Nice to hear the studio versions. The first one was 'Runnin' Me Up' which is just awesome, my new favourite song. It really is that good. This version had full vocals by Phil so I guess it's from their 'work-in-progress' album sessions. Nice sneak preview. I think he played 2 more which after hearing them live might have been 'Connected To You' and 'Halo' but don't quote me. And just before he stopped to let some other guy take over 'Skin Crawl' was played.
Took the opportunity to go over and introduce myself to Simon and he seemed pleased to see me "Darren, nice to see you - thanks for all your support." and got a quick autograph. Thanks Simon. I also told him he should pay Amy her £8 back for flying in from the States. He did actually take out his wallet - which was quite funny. He told us they would be filming the gig and coming out at the end before going back to his DJing.
The guy who took over played 'Animal' - and I didn't even request it....of course some Sex Pistols tunes were played, right before the gig started...
Now the gig start time was the only downside to the evening. I was ready to keel over after standing until 10pm. So the lights go down and Simon Laffy came out and thanked us for being there but then introduced two guys who would do a "short peice". Now I have various descriptions
as to what kind of "piece" it was but I'll spare you. Needless to say it was a pretty surreal 5 mins - but maybe that was the plan! hehe. I think it's called performance art?, not my thing, and seemingly not anyone elses. I did clap at the end though - (relief?...). Sorry!
Again it was a tad annoying that 3 more songs were played before the guys came onstage - I really was getting spaced out - it was pretty hot in there. But then the video people at stage right started getting ready, plus Pro-photographers, certain webmasters... And then Simon and Phil came out and got their gear strapped on. Then Phil hopped up on stage and welcomed us. No fan fare at all and they just started rocking away.
So the first song turned out to be 'Connected To You' and it was high energy rock and very uptempo. We were right in front of Phil with just a line of women between us and him. If he'd have leaned over we could have slapped hands. We were there for the whole show. I didn't really consider just how cool that was between taking pics and watching him sing and play. After a few seconds of the song they all gave each looks and big smiles. That was really fun to see because you could tell they were relieved to be finally playing for an audience. They kept doing that throughout. All the guys were fantastic, you would have thought it was their 100th show not the first one! I've never heard or seen Paul Cook play drums live before (apart from the soundcheck hehe) and he's amazing, and so were Simon and Phil. All those rehearsals paid off...
The sound they made together was fat and tight, you wouldn't have known it was just Phil on guitar if you only heard a recording. Phil even had time for a trademark fast solo whilst posing for the front row people at the end of the song (show off!...). Phil spoke very briefly after the song something like "We're only here for half 'an hour - unless you guys make lots of noise!" before he sang the line you may notice above...and 'You're So Wrong' kicked in. Been listening to this constantly for 3 days so I knew it pretty well. Another fast rocker with a great chorus. If you thought recent Lep tunes lacked a little something in terms of rocking energy - well this has it. Great energy and more soloing by Phil in the middle. And when I say soloing I mean 'Phil Collen' trademark soloing - eg. Fast. (song keys from setlist written above).
continued on page 2.